Paul Phillips, $2-5 Mirage

[kagame]

speaking of paul:
http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_phot...050304-144-010

thats just classic ;-)

[Paul Phillips]

[ QUOTE ]
how can you dominate a game like that? if they are bad players you just have to wait for good hands.

[/ QUOTE ]

What a strange perspective. It is they who end up waiting for good hands... which is what gets them in the end. Not that this table was loaded with bad players, just players with a lot less experience.

In limit you can beat bad players by tightening up. In no-limit there are a LOT of ways to beat them and tightening up is nowhere near the most profitable.

[Michael Jensen]

I was playing at the table next to Paul Phillips and made a game change for the opportunity to play with him and to see if I could catch a big score off him early. I had these intentions because I noticed he was gambling with all types of hands for a lot of money in relation to the blinds.

At the same time I knew that once he doubled up he would start making a move to remove all the chips from the table. By the end of the night, that is exactly what happened.

Yes, he did gamble with marginal hands for his entire stack but it was only done as a quick attempt to double up. He commented several times on how difficult it is to only buy-in for $500. After 3 rebuys and many hands where he either doubled up his opponent or double or tripled up through his, he built his stack up to 2,000. A side note, after I had raised preflop on my first hand after a rebuy, Paul bet dark into 3 opponents and called my all-in with an open ended straight draw. My bust A-high flush draw held.

Once he had some ammunition, he played exceptionally well. I know this because I sat to his immediate right for the majority of the time. He won several pots with relentless aggression. Picking perfect spots to push hands through and made accurate reads with very marginal hands. Furthermore, he made many bets in which he enticed his opponent to come over the top of him and he made countless calls with 2nd, 3rd, or even 4th pair for up to $200-$300 and was correct in doing so a majority of the time.

He had a lot of gamble in him preflop but played exceptionally after the flop.

My results were very poor in the game (not surprsingly of course), but I did have several spots where I was willing to put my money in with 2nd or 3rd pair after Paul had bet up to $300, but another opponent beat me to it. I would have been good most of the time. But instead of waiting for another opportunity I crippled myself after building my stack to nearly 1400 after a lucky double after flopping a flush. I ended up embarassing myself in the game in how I played my final game, but it was due to the amount of pressure Paul was putting on me and everyone else.

It did not matter how the cards fell that night, it was only a matter of time until he took us down one by one. It was a pleasure playing with him and although I ended up crippling myself with 2 poor decisions late in the night with a large stack, I am happy with some of the reads I had made against him but was unfortunate enough to have a caller in front of me time and time again. He also made several blocking bets on the river that were meant to entice his opponent to make a move at the pot. I remember three times where I was enclined to make the move but thought twice figuring he wasn't that strong but that he was just waiting for me to make a move at the pot just to see how fast he would call with middle pair.

When I was first dealt into the game I figured I knew what his strategy was and I was correct. It was very enjoyable to watch him build up his fortress of chips in that he did it with such mastery. Even though most of my chips found there way to his stack to my left, I got exactly what I wanted. I wanted to see what it was was like to sit to Paul Phillip's right. Let me tell you what it was like, it was tough, and that's an understatement.

It was nice playing with you Paul. I hope it will happen again, but next time I'll sit on your left and bet dark your straddle.

Michael Jensen
BraveJayhawk

[Ulysses]

[ QUOTE ]
PP has a brand new $500 stack and raises a straddler to $50 LP comes over the top all in for $300, BB goes all in for about $400, He thinks for a second and calls w/ T7s.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is why capped buy-in games suck. When a lucky fish like Phillips triples up w/ T7s, you want to be able to pull out $1500.

[Michael Jensen]

I realized I might have made it seem like I had a good read and played well against Paul. I want to clear this. He had me guessing all night. Putting a alot of pressure on me, more often than not getting heads up with me by reraising behind me when I opened up for a raise. He did this many time when he was on the button or on the cut-off. I just mentioned the things I did right or would have if I had the opportunity to go heads-up. The pressure he put on me lead me to make poor decisions which lead to my demise. What a great card player. I was very much impressed.

[Ulysses]

[ QUOTE ]
I left the game a $3000 winner, barely able to carry all the racks to the cage.

[/ QUOTE ]

You tourney guys might not know this since you rarely ever leave with chips. You can tip a chip-runner to color up for you. [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

[ QUOTE ]
I actually put on quite a clinic that night but it sounds like you left at exactly the wrong time.

[/ QUOTE ]

Someone earlier talked about throwing a party. Just the other night I played in a $.50/$1NL game online. It was mainly to blow off steam after a crap run at $25/50NL. But that didn't mean I didn't want to win. I always want to win when I play, and I imagine that's the same for you. Even for low stakes, it's not fun for me to just give away money like an idiot. In that game, I played and min-raised 100% of my hands pre-flop. And early on, I gave unlimited action to all the short buys at the table. But I played great post-flop and was busting people left and right. I left the table w/ about $650, up about $450. And every pro $.50/$1 player there was talking about the idiot lucksack fish.

[creedofhubris]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
how can you dominate a game like that? if they are bad players you just have to wait for good hands.

[/ QUOTE ]

What a strange perspective. It is they who end up waiting for good hands... which is what gets them in the end. Not that this table was loaded with bad players, just players with a lot less experience.

In limit you can beat bad players by tightening up. In no-limit there are a LOT of ways to beat them and tightening up is nowhere near the most profitable.

[/ QUOTE ]

So. Obviously throwing tons of money into speculative hands preflop to double/triple up is a positive expectation play for you. (Doubt it would be for most of us.)

In your opinion, how much of the benefit of that move is the power of the eventual big stack in your hands, and how much comes from the crazed table image it buys you?

Let's put it this way. Say you sat down at a table of decent players with NO capped buy-in, with a healthy stack.

Do you feel it would still be a positive play to go into maniac mode upon first sitting down, in order to encourage players to take shots at you later? (You're wearing a wig and a clown outfit, so no one recognizes you and realizes what you're up to.)

Thanks for your feedback.

[creedofhubris]

[ QUOTE ]
Even though most of my chips found their way to his stack to my left

[/ QUOTE ]

Seat change.

[kagame]

keep grinding creed

[creedofhubris]

[ QUOTE ]
keep grinding creed

[/ QUOTE ]

Not what I meant.

If you're gonna play, sit to his LEFT.